Over the weekend, Google announced a new feature for Google Voice: The ability to receive notifications of missed calls in e-mail form. It’s a welcome feature, but as is often the case with new Google application additions, it’s hidden away in the settings menu, and the blog post about it didn’t clearly explain exactly how it works.
It’s easy to turn on the notifications for calls going to your Google Voice number, but it’s a little more complicated to get the feature working with your “real” mobile number. Here we’ll explain how to set up both.
Enabling Missed Call E-mails
To enable the missed call e-mails for your Google Voice number, log in to Google Voice and locate the “Settings” link in the top right corner of the screen, immediately to the right of your e-mail address and phone number.
Click there and two options will pop up: “Voice settings” and “Google Account settings.” Click on “Voice settings” to proceed.
Once you’re on the Settings page, click on the “Calls” tab. You’ll see the “Missed Calls” section at the very bottom with two options. You can check “Place missed calls in the inbox” to get notifications at the Voice application website only or check “Send missed calls to my e-mail” to have the notifications e-mailed to your attached Google account e-mail address instead. You can also check both boxes if you want to get notifications in both places.
Check the options you want, then click the “Save changes” button at the bottom. Now whenever you miss a call to your Google Voice phone number, you’ll receive a notification that simply says: “Missed call from: (xxx) xxx-xxxx at 1:50 p.m.”
Getting Notifications for Missed Calls to Your Real Number
To receive notifications of calls placed to your real number, not just your Google Voice number, you’ll have to enable Google voicemail for your phone. To do this, navigate to the “Phones” tab in Settings and find the link to “Activate Google voicemail on this phone.”
A little window will pop up that includes an activation code. Verify that your carrier has been accurately identified at the top, then pick up your phone to dial the activation code exactly as it appears in the window. Hit “Call” or Send” as Google suggests.
On many smartphones, you’ll receive immediate confirmation that multiple forwarding features have been enabled. If you didn’t receive a confirmation, you might want to have someone dial your real number to test it.
If it worked, the rules you set for e-mail or inbox notifications of missed calls will apply to your actual number, not just your Google Voice number. To disable this link, just repeat the process by clicking on the new option that says “Deactivate Google voicemail on this phone.”
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, UltraONEs
Reviews: Google, Google Voice, iStockphoto
More About: Google, Google Voice, Guide, how to, missed calls, Mobile 2.0, notifications, phone
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